


The HoW part 1: The Chase

by TomiLang



Series: The Hollowness of Wholeness [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters: Gold & Silver & Crystal | Pokemon Gold Silver Crystal Versions, Pocket Monsters: HeartGold & SoulSilver | Pokemon HeartGold & SoulSilver Versions
Genre: Gen, Nuzlocke Challenge, Original Pokemon Trainer - Freeform, Pokemon HeartGold, Pokemon Journey
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-29
Updated: 2017-01-09
Packaged: 2018-08-18 12:11:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8161717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TomiLang/pseuds/TomiLang
Summary: A Storylocke based on Nuzlocke runs of Pokemon HeartGold and Pokemon 3D.Emma, a young girl from Newbark Town, doesn't want to be a trainer: she'd rather travel around Johto just to meet new Pokemon and befriend them. But an unexpected threat forces her to go down her parents' path and challenge the League just like they did, while stopping Team Rocket from returning to the surface and potentially destroy the world.





	1. Prologue: Enter

**Author's Note:**

> My rules:
> 
> 1\. If it faints, it's dead. Permabox the dead.
> 
> 2\. Nickname all Pokemon. No exceptions.
> 
> 3\. In every new area, catch only the first Pokemon encountered.  
> 3a. Dupes clause - ignore the first encounter if it's a duplicate of a Pokemon already caught or a member of its evolution line. If a non-dupe is not found within a reasonable amounts of attempts, the area's capture must be forfeited.  
> 3b. Shiny clause - shiny Pokemon may be caught, but cannot be used if they are not the first encounter.  
> 3c. Gender clause - ignore the first encounter if the Pokemon is the same gender of the latest Pokemon obtained. For this case, genderless Pokemon are considered a third gender.  
> 3d. Gift Pokemon can be used, but only of they are the first Pokemon encountered in the area. If they don't meet the gender clause, they are considered dead automatically.  
> 3e. For gift eggs, the encounter area is where the egg hatches.  
> 3f. No legendaries allowed.
> 
> 4\. Notepad's clause - once the party is full, all additional captured Pokemon must be sent into the PC, and can only rotate into the party to replace a dead team member. The PC Pokemon can only rotate into the party in the same order they were caught.
> 
> 5\. Do not grind over 3 levels higher than each Gym leader's ace.
> 
> 6\. If a HM is needed to progress, it must be taught to at least one party member. If none of the current party members can learn the HM, a PC Pokemon may be temporarily rotated into the party as a HM slave. However, HM slaves must return to the PC once they finish their job.
> 
> 7\. In case of a wipe, build a new party from the 6 earliest Pokemon in the PC and proceed as usual.
> 
> \-------
> 
> Other notes:
> 
> 1\. To successfully document two runs, the story will be divided into two parts: the first will focus more on the 3D run, and the second more on the HG run. Nevertheless, the MCs of both runs are main characters in this story.
> 
> 2\. Pokemon 3D is a remake of the Generation 2 games. However moves, types and abilities and even Pokemon were updated according to Generation 6. As such, things like the Fairy-type exist in the 3D run, but not in the HG run. This will be explained in-story.
> 
> 3\. In HG I used UPR to override trading evolutions. In 3D however, due to the game's online feature, apparently trade evolutions are only possible on online savefiles (which require registering to the online server). As I have created an offline savefile, by the time I found out about that it was too late to go back - so trade evolutions are unavailable to me on 3D.
> 
> 4\. Pokemon 3D allows the player to play as one of the HGSS, BW or B2W2 player characters. In this run, I've chosen to play as Hilda.
> 
> 5\. Note that in this universe, the games don't necessarily happed in the same order in do in canon. Also, more than once the plot will be based on the Pokemon Special manga more than on the games.
> 
> 6\. As far as you guys are concerned, I am nearly done with the first part's gameplay and require no help with that.
> 
> 7\. Last but not least - credit goes to the following sweethearts:  
> a) Uncle Pine for beta'ing the story.  
> b) Shiny Dustox, YunUroko, HSSonic and R4v3rguy for helping me brainstorm the title.

> The gates of time have opened,  
>  Now, it's chains are broken.  
>  An ancient force unleashed again.

\- Within Temptation, from "Enter"

* * *

How long ago was it? Blaine didn't remember, and no longer bothered to either. He hadn't heard of that boy again since the day he met him, but even after all this time, he still remembered him well.

If Blaine recalled correctly, the boy seemed to be about ten years old. He had coal-black short hair, and amber eyes. A flame of determination burned in those eyes, and Blaine couldn't help but remember his own much younger, more innocent and more enthusiastic self when he saw that gaze.

Even now, he still recalled the time he himself was that age: the heat of excitement which had burned inside him when he had been charmed by Fire-type Pokémon for the first time, and when he had decided to specialize in them specifically. Ever since then, every time he saw such a young Pokémon trainer, a warm feeling of empathy rose deep within him.

The battle was swift, yet taught Blaine a lot about the boy. Both sides used exactly three Pokémon, and three Pokémon were more than enough for the boy. Usually, trainers relied on Water-type Pokémon alone as what they thought was a certain key to victory in Blaine's Gym. And yet, he was not the second most powerful Gym Leader in Kanto for naught. He had taught some of his Pokémon moves designed for countering Pokémon of this type.

The first demonstration of that was after the boy defeated his Rapidash using a Slowbro. Blaine sent out his Arcanine and commanded him to Bite the Psychic-type. The boy immediately read Blaine's strategy and switched to a Lapras, who easily defeated Arcanine. That was Blaine's moment to use his trump card – a Magmar who knew Thunder Punch.

The super-effective attack knocked Lapras out in one hit, but the boy regained his composure quickly and called upon the last Pokémon has had prepared for battle: a Nidoking, who the boy has taught Surf.

The Ground-type Pokémon's immunity to Electric-type attacks gave the Nidoking a considerable advantage. With a single Surf attack, that battle was determined.

The boy watched as Magmar fell, and after being declared victorious, he sent his three Pokémon out of their Pokéballs and fed them berries to heal them. He pet their heads fondly, a satisfied smile spread on his lips even though only his Nidoking came out undefeated. It was evident that the most important thing to the boy was his Pokémon doing their best.

"Great job, Dido," he patted the proud-looking Slowbro's head.

"You are in top shape today, Athena," the Lapras nodded in agreement. "Keep going like this in the next Gym battle".

"And Fonz," he turned to his Nidoking, giving him the badge. "This is yours, for backing your friends up."

The Nidoking wore the badge on his chest proudly, showing it off to his teammates. The Slowbro patted him, mimicking her trainer.

As Blaine watched the boy interacting with his Pokémon, he was reminded deep inside of what he became a Gym Leader for: to see the smiles on the face of children receiving a reward for their efforts.

* * *

Blaine waited until the boy climbed his Lapras to Surf on her to Pallet Town before calling his closest colleague.

"Giovanni? Yes, it's Blaine. Calling as I promised… yes. True. He is a very bright boy… exactly. I see there is no need to say anything. Take note, he has a Lapras, a Slowbro and a Nidoking. He will probably count on his Lapras in battle… ah… my girls are happy, as usual. Only satisfaction… and yours?... I'm terribly sorry to hear. Hope he'll feel better soon… yes, of course, it's not simple to be a parent…" He laughed loudly when the man on the other side told a joke. "Good. Good. Keep enjoying this beautiful day, dear man. Fare well. Fare well."

Blaine couldn't tell why, but when he hung up, a harsh feeling of dread suddenly rose within him.

How strange – why was he remembering the boy once again, even though such a long time had passed?

* * *

Some time has passed since then. Team Rocket has fallen and risen again and now their time has come to prepare for their new breakthrough.

After the sudden disappearance Giovanni, Team Rocket's former boss and founder, a younger man took his place. Under the new Boss, it seemed like the infamous crime syndicate was turning towards a direction far different than three years prior. Back then, the goal was wealth and fame.

But now? Most of Team Rocket's members didn't really know. Some of them joined the renewed organization in hopes to receive legitimization to behave like the thugs they were, and some joined in hopes that eventually, Giovanni would have returned. The current Boss didn't care: had Giovanni really returned the new Boss would have agreed to loyally work under him, and if not he would have continued to lead Team Rocket like he was meant to do from the moment he was recruited. What he cared for above everything else was to preserve Team Rocket's legacy, and achieve whatever he and his executives have set as the new goal.

He could see this goal taking shape before his very eyes as he stood on the ruins of Cinnabar Gym overlooking Route 21, which connected the ruined island to Pallet Town. Ever since Cinnabar's volcano erupted, covering the island in burning hot lava, no one lived there anymore – besides the people employed in the Pokémon Center built a year after the eruption. Therefore, the island was almost completely abandoned, which allowed the Boss and his selection of underlings to scour the island uninterrupted.

Those who looked at his face could not tell what was going through his mind – his expression was always hollow, emotionless, void of life, resulting in a rumor among the grunts that the new Boss had no soul. They believed that was the reason why Giovanni had picked him as his replacement. The Boss himself did not care what they thought of him, as long as the bunch of lazy fools did their job properly.

Considering the mission's importance, he was slightly worried that these slimes would fail as easily as they had done three years ago. Back then he was not in charge, and while he would never denounce Giovanni's modus operandi, the new Boss tended to believe his predecessor's main flaw was being bound by his own emotions. The new Boss had made sure to get rid of this burden and ever since then his only worry was that his mindless peons, who unfortunately were his arms and legs in all of the organization's petty tasks, would somehow screw everything up in the dumbest way possible and ruin it all. This is why he insisted on watching over the Cinnabar mission himself.

If he only had the means to, he would have replaced all of them with identical clones of himself.

Exhaling deeply, the Boss turned his back to Pallet's shores, jumping from what was once probably the roof of Blaine's Gym and landing on the remains of the first floor.

"Did any of you spineless imbeciles find anything?", he yelled towards the tens of people present in the ruins. He had never spared the insults, always making sure to remind his subjects of his superiority.

The young men and women, all clad in black – but without Team Rocket's symbol, as it was still too early to expose their returned – turned to face him, frozen in place with faces white as a Dewgong's. And right after that thought, they've already proven to him just how flawed they were; if they didn't react with such paralyzing fear every time they heard his voice, they would have been far more effective.

Only one man dared to slowly wobble towards him, his entire body shaking so violently that it seemed he would drop the metal box he held in his muscular arms at any moment – an advantage half the slimes had compared to him, he had time to ponder. His men may have been glaringly weak-willed, but they were much burlier than him.

But for that he had faithful, powerful and cruel Pokémon: to easily tear apart whoever stood in his way.

In the end, he gave up and marched towards the minion with strong, steady and precise steps. Within eight of those steps he reached the man, and snatched the crimson box from his hands. He inspected the box all around – it seemed like a simple lock was all that separated him from its contents. Not degrading himself to make use of a mere human, the Boss let his Nidoqueen out of her Pokéball and handed her the box. 

With a wave of her hand the Pokémon hit the box, breaking the lock and ripping the lid off its place. The box turned over from the hit, and a tremendous stock of Gym badges spilled out of it, falling on the floor like raindrops and making sharp metallic sounds as they landed. Whoever was close enough to recognize the small colorful pins took one step back, giving the Boss honor of touching the yearned badges himself. Those further away stepped back as well, simply assuming that was what they were supposed to do.

The Boss bent down slowly, inspecting the badges for a few seconds before picking one of them up and looking at it closely. He recognized the vibrant red hues – it was the Volcano Badge Blaine gave to those who defeated him in a Gym battle. This badge didn't just prove the wielder's victory for the League, but also empowered the special abilities of the Pokémon owned by them.

The Boss turned to look at his Nidoqueen, acknowledging the significance of having such a powerful item in his possession, and after a short thought gave her the badge. Understanding what her owner wanted from her, the Nidoqueen took the badge and wore it on her chest.

With one Gym badge for each of his Pokémon, the Boss's power could be greater by tenfold, and he could control increasingly powerful Pokémon the more badges he had. And now, Team Rocket had many of those, probably enough to control at least one Legendary Pokémon.

How many in total, the boss did not know. It all depended on the time the badges were created, since a few years ago they had been modified to decrease their control over Pokémon by orders of the League and its self-righteous Champion.

The Boss reflexively spit on the floor at the very thought of the League. He loathed it from the bottom of his heart, but had never spoken of it aloud.

Shaking the intruding thoughts from his head, he picked up five additional badges from the floor – one of each of his remaining Pokémon – and put them in his pocket. Afterwards, he commanded his subjects to collect the badges and store them in a new box. As they did so, he and his Pokémon watched closely to make sure no one of these would-be traitors would dare to take a badge for themselves.

They had arrived on Cinnabar in search for Moltres's feathers, but found something far more valuable: a mean to control Moltres entirely. 

If they managed to find Zapdos and Articuno, they would've probably been able to control those as well…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all: thank you Jimcloud for proofreading the prologue. I appreciate it a lot.
> 
> So... first update. A lot of setting up to do and some foreshadowing - mainly regarding Team Rocket and their plans. I get emotional when writing the evil team. Why's that? Haha, it's a mystery~!
> 
> Blaine shows here in an important role. However, He won't show up again until the HG-focused part. Such a shame though, he's my favourite gym leader.
> 
> Next chapter, we'll actually meet our protagonists. Woohoo~!


	2. And We Run

> Don't blink, you'll miss it.  
>  Lift up your head.  
>  We gotta get gone.  
>  Yeah, we outta here.

-Within Temptation, from "And We Run"

* * *

Located on the Johto region's eastern border, Newbark Town was a secluded and modest place, its population the smallest in the entire region. But for what it lacked in size and locations of interest, it made up with its notable local names – the place was known as quiet enough for creative minds to find the peace they needed, and so artists and scientists often settled there either for a short time, or for good.

Two prominent people who directed some spotlight to Newbark were Professor Ronald Elm, a Pokémon researcher specializing in breeding, and Professor Celia Sixsmith, an expert on radio waves. Each of them was famous for their groundbreaking discoveries and contribution to the mass society, and scientists from all over the world frequently flocked to the small town just to learn from them.

And still, it was relatively quiet. Perhaps because scientists were naturally more humble, or the place's time to shine hasn't come yet. Nevertheless, Newbark Town would soon gain some additional fame of its own. Or so the residents hoped, as one of the local children was about to embark on a journey to challenge the Indigo League.

However…

" _What do you mean Alfie's not back yet!?_ "

Said child was quite irresponsible.

Emma, Professor Sixsmith's only daughter, stood in Professor Elm's lab, her arms crossed, her teeth sinking into her lower lip and her left foot tapping furiously on the tiled floor as she glared at her neighbor. The Pokémon researcher has just summoned her to his lab in order to send her on an errand to which her friend, Alfie Amberwood, was sent himself.

Six hours prior.

"Mr. Pokémon's house is only an hour of bike ride away! He can't just ditch his duties and slack off every single time!" At this point, she started marching around the lab back and forth, her boots heavily stomping on the floor. "He only does what's asked of him right away if someone else's life depends on it! Can't he just, for once, get himself together and not waste away his – and my – precious time!?"

"Hoo! Hoo!" The Hoothoot perched on Emma's shoulder, remaining balanced despite her human friend's constant movement, cried as loudly and as angrily as the teenage girl. Her clock hand-shaped eyebrows furrowed deeply while she flapped her clean brown wings the same way Emma flailed as she kept stomping.

Professor Elm sighed with defeat, knowing there was no way to easily calm Emma down. Like her father, she was assertive to the point of being like a deaf person when trying to reason with, and once her mind was set on making a point – especially on a matter which angered her so – it was better to just let her vent her emotions and wait until this hot pot cooled down.

Making the comparison between Emma and her father, Professor Elm couldn't help but see said man standing right where she just did: walking dramatically around the room, yelling mostly to himself, flailing, shrugging endless times…

But then he realized what he was doing, and quickly shook the thought out of this head. If Emma found out she was compared to her father again, the implication could send her on a rampage, just like the ones he was well-known for. Saying the girl didn't like her father would have been an understatement.

"So," the scientist's thoughts were cut as he noticed Emma's shining brown eyes staring directly at him, once again at the same stance as before. When she was done ranting, he didn't know. It shouldn't have mattered anyway, because to his relief she finally stopped.

"You said you had something for me…?" The girl asked, curiosity plastered on her heart-shaped face. The Hoothoot, as usual, mimicked her expression.

The question brought him back to reality, reminding him what else he sent for her for. Turning around, he hurried toward the large red-and-white machine towering in the back of the room: an upgraded, lab-only version of the healing machines found in Pokémon Centers. In it were 10 slots where Pokéballs were to be put to let Pokémon rest, but right now they fulfilled the purpose of storing rare Pokémon the professor would give to fresh trainers just starting their journey.

With Indigo Plateau only accepting challengers during March and April every year, most trainers who hadn't attempted to challenge the League before would begin their Gym circuit around the current time of the year – late autumn. As the regional Pokémon professor, one of Professor Elm's tasks was to provide the younger trainers with "starter Pokémon": rare but powerful, obedient and reliable Pokémon carefully bred by Indigo Plateau's Day Care to be the perfect first companion. This year's first batch of starters just came in, and the Professor wanted Emma to have one of these Pokémon with her to keep her safe.

In fact, he wanted her, together with Alfie, to be the first to pick one of these Pokémon. And Alfie indeed had picked the very energetic Totodile before heading out. With the Totodile gone, the machine now contained 3 Grass-type Pokémon, 3 Fire-type Pokémon, 2 Water-type Pokémon and one Eevee.

After Elm finished his explanation to her, Emma's response was simply raising her eyebrow and pointing at her Hoothoot friend. "But I got Smadar with me."

Elm sighed, throwing his arms into the open air. "But she is a wild, inexperienced Pokémon," he explained as calmly as possible. "Smadar most likely has never fought a real battle in her life, right? She has been with you ever since you were five years old, living with you like a sister. I've seen the two of you growing up together, and she's been pretty much treated like a human this whole time. Relying just on her to protect you from wild Pokémon will be tough until she gets accustomed to this kind of life. You probably don't even have a Pokéball for her, do you?"

Emma raised a finger to make a counter-argument, glanced at her feathery friend, and then dropped it. She must have realized the Professor's point, and had no choice but to agree with him.

"If they don't go with me, this Pokémon will go to a trainer who you can't guarantee will do good by them, right?" she asked. While she was doing her best to avoid the subject, genuine concern dominated her features as she asked the question.

Having nothing else to say, and recognizing Emma was having a hard time losing this discussion, Elm simply nodded.

Sighing with defeat, the girl walked briskly past him to approach the machine, Smadar leaving her shoulder to fly over and perch on the chair next to it. They exchanged an approving glance and a nod before Emma peered over the Pokéballs inside the machine, squinting to see the Pokémon inside it better.

Emma's eyes passed between all of them, studying each and every young Pokémon closely, before they rested on the Pokéball containing a rather hot-headed Cyndaquil. The young girl let the Fire-mouse Pokémon out, examining it briefly before extending her hand in peace and introducing herself.

"Hi! I'm Emma Sixsmith and I'd like you to be my partner in adventure! I hope we can be friends!" Professor Elm couldn't see her face, but he could imagine her beaming brightly like an early morning sun.

However, despite Emma's good intentions the Cyndaquil replied with a glare and a series of heated squeaks. Whatever the little one said was enough for Emma to instantly dislike it, putting it back in the ball. Emma's Hoothoot visibly cringed and commented with loud dissatisfied hoots before gesturing toward the Chikorita ball, next to the one Emma just put back into place. The girl obliged, lifting the ball and opening it to let the Leaf Pokémon out.

Chikorita wasn't the ideal choice for a battler. But then again, who was the professor to judge? Knowing Emma, he knew the girl was not interested in that, but rather in making friends with Pokémon. If her personality was compatible with a certain Pokémon, she'd prefer it over a stronger one. Luckily, this Chikorita was a specially-bred starter Pokémon, and so was much more capable than its peers.

This time, the young Pokémon returned Emma's friendly greeting with excited squeaks, Smadar joining him with high-pitched, blissful hoots. Judging by the series of rather positive sounds both Pokémon emitted, alongside the human girl's cheerful exclamations, it seemed like Emma had already made her choice.

No more than a minute later, Emma lifted the Chikorita up to show the Professor. The green cricket beamed at him, radiating sunshine. Its stubby legs swung up and down as if it wanted to run all over him, and the gleaming, healthy leaf attached to its scalp twitched as fast as a Beedrill’s wings. "This is Connor!" its brand new trainer announced happily, her smile stretching from one ear to the other. "And he's our new friend!".

After quickly registering Connor as her partner Pokémon, and after he managed to convince her to get a Pokéball for her Hoothoot, Professor Elm watched Emma skipping happily out of the lab, Chikorita in arms and Hoothoot flying after her. It was amazing to see how easily and positively the girl was affected by Pokémon – and to think that no more than half an hour ago she was ready to burn the lab down…

In that manner, Emma was indeed just like her father, but she better not hear anyone say that.

* * *

Hearing the front door open, Celia emerged from her lab to greet her human daughter – and the Hoothoot she considered a second daughter by now – with open arms. Unsurprisingly, Emma couldn’t hug her back due to the Chikorita in her arms. Celia was certain Ronald would have managed to persuade the stubborn girl into adopting one of his starter Pokémon.

The little one seemed to be quite docile, following Emma around the house from the moment she put him down on the floor. Celia leaned on the wall next to her trophy and diploma cabinet, watching her daughter shuffling around, grabbing various things and shoving them into her pink handbag.

As much as it saddened her, she knew exactly what her daughter was set to do: just like she did as a young girl many years ago, Emma would travel around the region. Unlike her though, she will not do so as a trainer challenging the League, but just as a trainer's companion. In this case, said trainer was Emma's friend, Alfie.

With Emma being too busy preparing to leave, Smadar flew over to the living room's couch, landing on it and flopping over lazily. She faked a loud yawn, then hooted something toward Emma.

"Huh?" The girl responded, not bothering to face her friend's direction while she was preparing herself a lunchbox. "You're not coming with us to Mr. Pokémon's?"

"Mr. Pokémon?" Celia intruded the conversation, curiosity pulling her eyebrow upward with the realization Emma was not leaving just yet. "So that's what Ronald called you for?"

Smadar hooted furiously from the couch but Celia, as usual, was not able to tell what the bird was saying. The Chikorita looked around in confusion. 

Eventually, he opted to attach himself to Emma's leg, seeking comfort from her as his head leaf wrapped around his human's ankle.

"Apparently Mr. Pokémon has this Togepi egg with some weird patterns that's burning hot. No one can touch that." Emma explained, only turning around once to greet her mother's Pokémon – Perry the Stoutland and Louisa the Heliolisk, the only two remains of Celia's days as a trainer.

"Professor Elm sent Alfie to get the egg… but you know how that jackass is. That was six hours ago and he's still in la-la-land… so it's my duty to go get the egg so our friendly neighborhood professor can inspect it".

Smadar faked a second yawn as a response, louder this time.

"Okay, I got it". Emma retorted as she finally finished preparing her lunchbox, turning toward the kitchen table and stuffing the box into the handbag. "You don't wanna come with us. It's fine, lazybones. You stay here, watch over the house and make sure Mom doesn't burn it by getting a machine to explode… again." She faced Celia, winking. The woman shook her head, not amused but too used to her daughter's terrible sense of humour.

"You're confusing me with Papa," was the only comment she was willing to give as a response to the miserable joke.

Emma grinned in satisfaction, grabbing her handbag, hanging it on her left shoulder and heading to the door. "C'mon, Connor, It's time for an adventure." She called to the Chikorita, who followed her as fast as he could with a determined chirp.

As soon as they left, Smadar got up from the couch and flew over to the window next to the front door, settling on the windowsill and staring outside intensely. Celia lingered there for a moment, watching Smadar briefly before silently heading back to work with Perry and Louisa in tow.

She did not miss the fact Smadar actually seemed nervous from the moment she came through the front door, but she could only account it on her anticipation of the oncoming journey.

* * *

All of a sudden, the sun's precious light was taken from him, blocked by some kind of a large moving obstacle. Alfie, who was lying down on Route 30's tall grass with his brand new Pokémon by his side, grunted as he realized he had to open his eyes and face the intruder.

Looking up, he saw Emma.

He knew exactly what she was there for. There was no need for her to say single thing, not even glare at him like a mad Hydreigon, and definitely not stand right above him with each of her bulky legs on a different side of his body, forming an arch over him. But she did just that, with her fists – not palms, fists – resting on her hips, and her chest puffed like a Jigglypuff.

From this angle, she looked like a human version of—oh no, she just sat on his chest. He could feel all the air leaving his lungs as once. Who the heck allowed her, a mere 15-year-old girl, to be so bulky and strong? What was she, a Machoke?

Before he could beg for his life, the monster grabbed him by the cheeks, pinching them hard and digging her nails into them. That would totally leave a mark—and now she's looking him in the eyes.

Oh shit. Here come the screams.

He couldn't even prepare himself before the accusations poured on him like heavy rain. From the corner of his eye he could see Gilbert the Totodile, Vered the Hoothoot and Freddie the Rattata, as fierce and tough as they proved themselves to be through the very sparse amount of battling they've done so far, staring wide-eyed at the display of violence carried out by this human they had never met before.

He could imagine how terrifying it was for them, regardless of whether they already liked him as their trainer and wanted to protect him – when Emma Sixsmith was pissed off, she could be the most dangerous thing on Earth. Okay, maybe second dangerous. After all, she was the daughter of the man who once tried to—

What was this sound?

Seemed like Emma had heard it too, because she stopped on her tracks, dropping him at once and turning around to take a look. He took advantage of being let go to escape from between the girl's legs. Sitting up, Alfie took a better look around. Only now he noticed that Emma's Hoothoot was nowhere to be seen. Where was it?

Never mind that, his Pokémon already switched to battle stance, glaring at the bushes in front of them, gritting their teeth and growling in angry fear.

The sound was strange, some kind of incoherent buzzing accompanied by the movement of many tiny feet. Alfie's first thought went to the wild Pokémon occupying this route – Caterpie, Metapod, Pidgey, Rattata, Hoothoot and…

Oh. Spinarak.

The tiny green things popping out of bushes were definitely Spinarak. Alfie didn't need to be some kind of a Poké-whisperer to tell they were furious.

They had every right to be, honestly. They just had to live through hearing Emma going berserk right outside their… nest? Web?

Whatever the Spinarak's house was called, they were definitely out of it, heading toward the two teens and Alfie's Pokémon – wait, no, both their Pokémon, Alfie just saw the girl beside him grabbing a Pokéball out of her bag– probably ready to attack.

They had to do something, either fight or flight. They might have a sliver of a chance? Maybe? With one Totodile, One Hoothoot, one Rattata and whatever Emma had in the Pokéball against these… way too many bugs?

Actually, no, scratch that. He didn't think they had a chance. Both of them were young and inexperienced in Pokémon battles – definitely Emma, who hated, well, battling with Pokémon. She obviously enjoyed being violent toward human beings though.

Anyway, not the point. The best idea was obviously run. Run and hope to reach safety as fast as possible. Cherrygrove City was right in front of them, which meant trying to get there would go through the swarm, aka Bad Idea.

Obviously, they had to run the opposite way. And if he remembered correctly, Mr. Pokémon’s house should’ve been that direction. That’s where he was supposed to go in the first place… before he got too excited training his new Pokémon, and ended up taking a nap after they became exhausted. Huh, no wonder Emma came here chasing him. The Professor must’ve gotten impatient.

Again, though, not the point. They had to escape.

So Alfie grabbed Emma's arm, recalled his Pokémon, turned around and ran as fast as he could, dragging her behind him and screaming at the top of his lungs.

Damn, his journey as a Pokémon trainer hadn't even begun yet. Did it really have to go downhill so fast?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my. I can’t believe this day has come - the day to finally re-enact Circle of Life, except I’m Rafiki and Emma is Simba. Anyway, yeah, there they are: my children protagonists!
> 
> As I said earlier, Emma will be the main character throughout most of the Johto part, and unless I change my mind Alfie will take the lead role sometime around the 8th gym, I believe.
> 
> Before I begin gushing about my characters, just a clarification - the Pokemon Elm has in the machine are the Kanto, Johto and Hoenn starters, plus Eevee. Why no Pikachu? Because that’ll raise the number to 11, and I do not like Pikachu.
> 
> Emma has gone a long way since being concieved a year ago, slowly but surely becoming the strange thing she is today. I won’t lie, my initial inspiration for her was Kynim’s Nina, the protagonist of Myths of Unova. But knowing that copying your character from someone else is quite pathetic, I took to various other inspirations to build her as my own, the main one being the TV series Once Upon a Time (hence the name). The surname Sixsmith, however, comes from a scientist named Rufus Sixsmith, one of the many characters in my all-time favourite novel, Cloud Atlas.
> 
> As some of you already noticed in the prologue, I use side characters’ pov to describe the setting and the main characters in a way using main characters’ pov only won’t achieve. There’s another reason I’ve yet to show Emma’s pov, but you’ll see why when I actually do.
> 
> Smadar is, of course, not my real in-game starter. She’s my Route 29 catch in 3D. My first plan was for Emma to have a younger sister living with her, since back then I hadn’t known any run in which the protagonist has a younger sibling. Said sister is one of several OCs who were scrapped to have an existing, otherwise quite useless, canon character fit into their role. In this case, I picked Smadar to be Emma’s “sister”, utilizing a plot device I wanted to use: having the protagonist have a first Pokemon who isn’t the standard starter. I’ve actually grown to like her a lot while playing the game, to the point of deciding if anyone has to be sacrificed to save her, I’ll do it.
> 
> In Alfie’s case, I thought it’d be boring if he starts catching Pokemon only after the Mr, Pokemon quest: after all, when you play as Lyra in HGSS, Ethan teaches you how to catch Pokemon and gives you Pokeballs, so it makes sense that Alfie, who uses Ethan’s sprite, would be able to catch Pokemon so early. Vered is my route 29 catch while Freddie is my Route 46 catch.
> 
> As you can see, Celia and Elm are long time friends as both neighbors and scientists, and Celia is indeed acquainted with other famous scientists. It is no lie that Emma grew up having some celebs treat her like a niece, and we’ll see how it affects her personality and the way she deals with things. Creating an “over-privileged” character is something I didn’t want to do at the beginning, but ended up seeing as a good challenge in character creation. Hopefully, I’ll manage to write her as well as I want to.
> 
> And that brings us to the elephant in the room - Emma’s father. Yes, Emma certainly has the daddy issues going on. How bad they are? We will find out together in later chapters. All I can say in the meanwhile is this: as one of my favourite characters, I’m glad I found the excuse to write him such an important role in this story. If written right, he should be quite the complex character…
> 
> What will happen to Alfie and Emma? Will a Pokemon die before they even started the journey? You’ll have to fine out next time… which should be in 2-3 weeks. I promise.


	3. I Don't Want to Be Like You

 

> My achievements seem so humble,  
>  While you're making wine from water.  
>  While my hands work the cold soil,  
>  All you touch turns into gold.

\- Delain, from "Invidia"

* * *

 

They ran as fast as their legs could carry them, through the tall grass and between the mighty trees of Route 30, halfway through shedding their autumn leaves. After them ran the Spinarak, screeching furiously at the top of their tiny lungs. They were incredibly quick for such small bugs, and they came in great masses, intimidating. Alfie could feel his soul escaping through his hasty breaths, and just hoped they would find Mr. Pokémon's house before the bugs could catch up to them.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a figure appeared and passed by them in the other direction. Alfie could only catch a glimpse of the person's indigo shirt before they disappeared behind him and Emma.  
  
"Amanda, Incinerate!" a deep masculine voice called. Suddenly, the teens could feel immense heat bursting behind them. Emma stopped to take a look back and Alfie, still holding her hand tight, was pulled to a halt and forced to turn back as well. Their savior’s back was turned to them, so Alfie couldn't see their face, but he assumed the person was a man simply from his voice and general physical features.  
  
It was hard to tell, but it didn't really matter. What mattered was the fact the person had a Charmeleon, and that Charmeleon had a quite strong Fire-type attack to stop the Spinarak. They surely owed that person the thanks.  
  
"Augustine!?" Emma called, excited surprise in her voice. Alfie looked to his right and saw stars in her eyes – or was it a reflection of the Charmeleon's burning flames? – and her mouth in a shape that was something between O and D, it really was hard to tell.  
  
The person turned around to face them, his facial features indicating it was a man, apparently named Augustine? Didn't matter, really, because he turned to shout at them:  
  
"Hurry up and leave! Mr. Pokémon's house is right ahead so just go there! I'll take care of these bugs!"  
  
Now Emma's mouth was definitely in D shape, but Alfie didn't care. It was obvious this guy could fend off the Spinarak while they couldn't, so he pulled Emma by the arm again and started running. Not without difficulty, though, because from the moment she had noticed the man, she had been frozen into place. He wondered how she knew him and why she reacted that way, but that was something to find out about later.  
  
Now, they had to run.  
  
Luckily for them, it didn’t take so long. Within few minutes, they reached Mr. Pokémon's house – they have already gone there before and more than once, but not frequently enough to remember the way there thoroughly. At least not for Alfie, anyway. But it was evident that for some reason, Emma wasn't completely capable of navigating around herself.  
  
They burst through the door, and the stranger followed suit with his Charmeleon before they even managed to close the door. Alfie took one last glance back through the window next to the front door, and saw the Spinarak fleeing outside. A bit before the line of fire, closer to the house, stood a Wartortle, probably ready to extinguish the flames. Next to it was an Ivysaur, but Alfie wasn't sure what it was there for.  
  
Next to him, Emma was breathing heavily, lying on the carpet in the main room of Mr. Pokémon's small house. The stranger – Augustine, yeah, that's what Emma named him – was hunched over, panting himself, his clothes covered with ashes and smoke stains and smelling like a bonfire. His Charmeleon, now Alfie remembered was called Amanda, was panting too, but not as much as her trainer.  
  
"I see you've gotten the children here safe and sound, Dr. Sycamore." Mr. Pokémon noted, directing the attention to him. The old man was seated at his desk, but his rotating office chair was turned to face them. In his right hand he was holding a dark brown smoking pipe, and his left hand was rested on a notepad lying on the desk.  
  
Just like Alfie remembered, Mr. Pokémon's house was small, crowded and dark, full of complex scientific machinery, but still impressive and having a homely feeling. Alfie wondered why he felt that way, but found no answer.  
  
Then he noticed something he wasn't aware of so far, most likely because of the heat he felt from both the Charmeleon's fire, and the energy from running releasing in his system: aside from the main room's fireplace, already active at this time of the year, there was another source of warmth in the room.  
  
Taking a closer look at the desk, Alfie noticed an incubator for Pokémon eggs on the floor next to it. From previous errands he ran for Professor Elm, some of which to Mr. Pokémon's house, the boy remembered incubators glowing blue from the light heating the egg. But not only this one's was off, the egg itself was radiating a strong dark red aura, and fire-like heat with it. However, the egg's light vanilla colour and the hollow red and blue triangular pattern on it indicated this was not a Fire-type Pokémon's egg. In fact, it was a Togepi egg. But Alfie wouldn't have known hadn't the professor told him in advance this was what he was sent to pick up.  
  
On his left, Emma finally regained her senses and rose to her feet. Looking around her, she first glanced at their savior, wide-eyed and thrilled; switched to his Charmeleon, her eyes widening even further and new stars shining in them; then her gaze moved to Alfie himself, changing instantly into a piercing glare, ready to murder him on the spot; but then, just then, she noticed the incubator on the floor, her eyes widening with excitement yet again.  
  
"It's a Togepi egg!" she exclaimed, gleaming.  
  
Before Alfie would be glad that Emma had decided to focus on the purpose of their quest rather than, well, being a monster to him about delaying said quest right now—  
  
Abruptly, she punched his face with the force of a Machoke's fist.  
  
Alfie wobbled back two steps before falling to the floor once again, dizzy. He could vaguely hear voices calling from above him, and Emma's accusing yelling shouting something like "he deserves this!", but between the ringing of his ears it was quite difficult to make out the words.  
  
By the time he regained his senses, though, she was already squealing over the egg once again.  
  
"—adorable, I just wanna pet it!" was the first thing he could hear once he finally surfaced. "Mr. Pokémon," yep, it was Emma's voice. "Can I touch it?"  
  
Alfie was still incapable of hearing Mr. Pokémon's response clearly, as his ears were still ringing a bit. But he guessed the old man let the girl-monster touch the incubator, because while he was starting to get back to his feet – finding Augustine's stretched hand and grabbing it to pull himself upwards – he saw her approaching the it.

A Chikorita skipped excitedly next to Emma – her starter Pokémon? Was that what Professor Elm gave her? – and switched his gaze between her and the incubator as she was about to touch it.  
  
But then, out of the blue, a new voice was heard.  
  
"I wouldn't try that if I were you." The voice stopped Emma on her tracks and all eyes turned toward its source – yet another old man, his hair already white, approached them from the back of the room. How they could not see or hear him until now, Alfie didn’t know. But once he stepped into view, he could recognize the man right away.  
  
Before his brain could give him any commands, Alfie was standing in front of one of the public figures he admired the most, gushing in pure ecstatic joy.  
  
"Professor Samuel Oak! Indigo Region's highest authority on Pokémon and the inventor of the Pokédex!" He announced simultaneously with his brain registering the old man's identity.  
  
He couldn't utter even a single word beyond that, though, because Emma instantly pushed him aside, taking the spotlight from him and offending him deeply. "Not exactly." She remarked. "Professor Oak was indeed the person who invented the Pokédex device," saying this, she pointed at Alfie with an accusing finger to correct his mistake. "But the first person to construct a comprehensive encyclopedia of all Pokémon inhabiting a single region was in fact Professor Cedric Juniper, one of Unova's greatest Pokémon researchers!"  
  
After finishing making her point, she turned back to the Professor, impressing him more than Alfie could possible manage with her pushy personality, vast knowledge, light-fast talk and complicated vocabulary. Alfie knew he could never match Emma's abilities, so he was thankful she didn't want to be a trainer because if she did, she'd probably be much better than him.  
  
That aside, how would he be able to convince the Professor to give him a Pokédex, like the ones he gave to his sources of inspiration: Indigo Champions Red and Blue?  
  
Professor Oak did seem to be impressed, because he addressed her instead of him, as if he was transparent. "And who might you be, young girl?"  
  
Alfie felt his heart sink to his guts. What could he say to get the esteemed professor's attention again? How could he make this conversation about himself? This was his chance to move his dream forward, and he couldn’t just let it slip away.  
  
While he was thinking, Augustine joined in and introduced Emma to Professor Oak rather than the monster herself, while placing his palm on her shoulder. "This is Emma Sixsmith," he bent down a bit to match the teens' height. "Professor [i]Celia[/i] Sixsmith's daughter from Newbark Town who, unsurprisingly, is very interested in science."  
  
"Well…" Emma began to say,  
  
But was cut by the Professor, who apparently realized who she is. "Sixsmith! Of course!" He clapped his hands excitedly, his mouth stretching to a wide grin. "Your grandpa is one of the greatest scientists of our time! I'm very proud to be his friend and colleague!" And with that, he turned to shake her hand furiously.  
  
Emma returned the shake, blushing like a Tamato. "T-thank you, Professor." She replied, looking aside. Alfie, of course, knew immediately who the Professor was talking about – Emma's mother wasn't the only esteemed scientist in the Indigo region. Celia's mother, now deceased, had been a famous botanist, while her father was still a well-known expert geneticist. Said grandfather visited Newbark often, giving Alfie the opportunity to meet and befriend quite a lively, optimistic and young-spirited old man, who also was also a veteran trainer and as such taught Alfie a lot more about Pokémon battling than Violet's trainer school did.  
  
"And that explains how you know her so well, Dr. Sycamore." Professor Oak continued. "It will be a crime on my behalf to forget how together with you and… others… Professor Sixsmith Jr. was one of the first young trainers to ever fill the Pokédex – on Professor Juniper's behalf, as you stated so cleverly, young girl. Being your mother [i]and[/i] grandfather's girl, no wonder you know that much!"  
  
Oh, yeah, did anyone mention how Emma Sixsmith's [i]entire[/i] family was celebrity? From her scientist grandparents, through her scientist and former Champion mother, to… well… you know… her father.  
  
More like, well, not that most people [i]knew[/i] that Machoke Girl Emma was the daughter of such a famous person, since as Alfie knew, his neighbor Celia was famous enough already and thus protected what was left of her daughter's privacy zealously. But still, Alfie knew who Emma's father was, and that was a lot to be jealous of… kinda.  
  
Next to Alfie, said Machoke was shifting around nervously. Having remembered her father, the boy wondered if the Professor knew the connection and would mention it. He didn't know or could guess what would happen next, but he surely never expected the Professor to address him.  
  
"And you, young man? Who might [i]you[/i] be?"  
  
Shocked, Alfie jumped. He was so caught off-guard all words escaped him and his brain emptied. They were talking about [i]him[/i]? Paying attention to [i]him[/i], for once? All his life he had been living in the in the shadow of the much better, much more successful Emma, but now that he was talking to the one person he knew was the key for own success and recognition, suddenly [i]he[/i] was in the spotlight?  
  
He couldn't let this opportunity go! If Professor Oak didn't give him a Pokédex right there, right now, who knows when his next chance would be? Sure, he could have been a Pokémon trainer and become the champion without a Pokédex, but if he wanted to be just like the amazing Red and Blue, who together took down Team Rocket three years ago, getting a Pokédex would be an integral part of it.  
  
Oh, he also had to ask Emma about her mother. He knew Celia used to be Unova's Champion who specialized in Grass-types for three years, but he hadn’t known she was… umm… that time's version of a Pokédex holder before then – could it be that her champion career started just like Red and Blue's?  
  
Oh, yes! The goal! That's his chance! He must present himself appropriately!  
  
"Professor Oak, sir, my name is Alfred Eugene Amberwood, but you can call me Alfie—" he found himself pausing to the sound of Emma giggling hysterically next to him. Yeah, yeah, he knew his full name was the most embarrassing thing in the entire world, but he had to be formal, right?  
  
She soon stopped, though, looking down. Alfie followed her gaze and saw her Chikorita tugging at her blue jeans, a worried look on its face. Alfie decided to ignore her while she was bending down to talk to it, and continued his fateful introduction.  
  
"I'm gonna be a great Pokémon trainer, beat the Indigo League and become even stronger than Champion Red! Here, I already have three Pokémon of my own!" He let Gilbert, Vered and Freddie out, showing them off. Despite being small, both Gilbert and Freddie flexed and posed dramatically to display their strength, while Vered blinked briefly before spinning her head full 360 degrees and flapping her magnificent wings. At the corner of his eye, Alfie could see Emma stopping to appreciate his team which he spent so much time training, and even Mr. Pokémon and Dr. Sycamore looked impressed.  
  
"So you got a Totodile from Professor Elm's lab, I see." Professor Oak commented, nodding in approval.  
  
"Yes!" Alfie confirmed, raising his voice eagerly. "Please, Professor, I wanna be an amazing Champion! Like Red and Blue and even more! I need a Pokédex like theirs to do this right and I know you invented the Pokédex and give it to trainers so please-please-please I want one too!"  
  
He stretched his chest as far up as he could and looked the Professor directly in his eyes, to show him he was serious. This was it. This was the moment of truth. He presented his argument, showed the person he's wanted to meet for so long how much he wanted this, and now all he had left would be to get an answer: yes or no.  
  
The Professor stared at him long and hard, then took a moment to scratch his chin, looking deep in thought. Alfie could feel his guts twisting from the suspense, eating him from the inside. If Professor Oak told him no then what he…  
  
What would he do? Would he let the lack of a Pokédex ruin his dream? Or could he just show everyone you can be just as amazing without it, or—  
  
"Very well, child. Your eagerness has impressed me." The Professor's voice cut his thoughts. "I will give you a Pokédex."  
  
Alfie could immediately feel tears welling up in his eyes. A Pokédex!? Of his own!? For real!? His dream was going to come true…?  
  
His dream was going to come true!  
  
"And you, miss Sixsmith?"  
  
Alfie's surge of joy was interrupted instantly when he saw the Professor turning to Emma as well, asking her if she wanted a Pokédex too.  
  
But why? She hadn’t ask for it! She didn't even want to be a trainer! Why would she get a Pokédex like that? Just because of a celeb family!?  
  
He was about to retort, but the Machoke girl already had plans of her own.  
  
"Yes, Connor, we'll take the egg and get back." She was talking to her Chikorita, but as soon as she noticed everyone's eyes were on her, she realized she had been just addressed, and turned her head to Professor Oak. "Me? Pokédex?" Her eyebrows raised until they touched her bangs as she pointed at herself.  
  
"What will I do with it?" She asked hypothetically. "Take pictures of wild Pokémon? Sorry sir, but if my mother could study them without confining them in Pokéballs against their will, so can I. Besides, my interest rate in contributing to any sort of science would be negative, if possible – sorry, Augustine, but that's the truth. The only reason I want to learn about Pokémon is in order to make this world a place where they can live in harmony with humans, which has nothing to do with this Pokédex machine of yours.”  
  
"Alfie, on the other hand," saying that, she gestured toward the boy in question, making his heart skip too many beats. "Actually wants to fill it for you and I can guarantee he's much more enthusiastic, clever and dependable than I am when it comes to such matters. He will fill it for you, he will collect all 16 of the Indigo League's Gym Badges, he will kick Champion Lance's ass for good and he will do the same to Red and be the best champion our region has ever had and will ever have. Next time you pick someone for you nice little project, consider this kind of things beforehand."  
  
She spoke so fast, not stopping even a second to breathe, her eyes fixated first on the Professor, then on Alfie, and then back on him. Not even a single one of the people in the room could say anything for at least a solid minute afterwards. Emma spoke like she knew exactly that's what she had wanted to say, like it was a speech she had been practicing for a very long time beforehand.  
  
And the most unexpected thing – after being so mean to him earlier, Emma was suddenly praising him? She’d usually accuse him of all possible sins all the time, and yet at this very moment she actually had something positive to say. Did she mean any of that? Did she really trust him like that?  
  
"Alfie," unsurprisingly, it was Emma who broke the silence she herself started. Alfie looked at her and saw she was beaming at him the same way she had beamed at the egg earlier. "Let's take this cute egg and your Pokédex and go back to the lab."  
  
With this, she addressed Mr. Pokémon and asked him for a satchel to carry the incubator. All the adults seemed to finally snap back into reality, and with cries of "yes! Of course!", Professor Oak finally gave Alfie a brand new model of his Pokédex machine. Alfie turned to pick his bag up and put the device in, however…  
  
"Emma."  
  
His friend stopped, turning toward him. "Hmm?"  
  
"Our bags. They're gone."  
  
Emma froze on her tracks for a few seconds before spinning around herself several times and realizing she, indeed, was bagless.  
  
"SH-SHIP!"  
  
"You… didn't have any bags on you when I found you…" Augustine – erm, Dr. Sycamore? – mentioned. "But then again, I was so distracted saving you children I didn't pay attention to that!" A nervous laugh followed, and Mr. Pokémon and Professor Oak looked at each other, concerned.  
  
"We must've dropped them when the Spinarak attacked!" Emma yelled in panic.  
  
"Then what are you waiting for?" The Professor took several steps forward, then stopped and stood firm in front of Dr. Sycamore. "Take my Spearow," he told the younger man, giving him two Pokéballs. "And go help the children."  
  
Dr. Sycamore took the balls and hurried to follow the two teens, who were already running outside, panicking.  
  
"You have fascinated me, both of you!" Alfie could hear the man he has looked up to for so long yelling behind them. "I hope we can meet again! You can find me in the Radio Tower."  
  
But by then, both Alfie and Emma were too out of breath to respond.  
  
They ran as fast as their legs could carry them, through the tall grass and between the mighty trees of Route 30, halfway through shedding their autumn leaves. They ran right back to the Spinarak den, hoping this time, the tiny critters wouldn't attack.

Alfie could suddenly hear his Pokégear ringing – he had a custom tune – and reacted by grabbing Emma's arm and pulling her after him, running faster, adrenaline pumping through his veins.  
  
This was their beginning, wasn't it? This is how their journey would begin. With excitement, with thrill, without knowing what's waiting for them beyond the horizon, what would happen next.  
  
And it was all he was waiting for forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, this chapter was a huge pain to write. I definitely have a lot to learn in the ways of delivering a character’s emotions and thoughts through descriptions and not just dialogue, so this was the biggest challenge here. As you can see, we got only Alfie’s POV this time, and boy he has a lot to say, especially about Emma…
> 
> Oh look! An entire chapter from Alfie's POV! Note that for every POV I write, the writing style simulates the character's thought pattern and therefore, some errors you may find in my writing were actually made on purpose. You're still invited to go ahead and correct me if you think it's needed ovo b
> 
> So Pine brought to my attention that spider lungs aren't exactly the same as mammal lungs yet are still called lungs... long story short look up "book lungs" if you're interested. They're super cool.
> 
> Surprise! I bet you didn’t see Prof-- I mean, Doctor Augustine Sycamore coming, right~? Believe me I got a lot to say about him, but let’s see what your impressions about him are first.
> 
> Emma is an emoji confirmed.
> 
> Don't worry guys. The Spinarak are fine. Othewise, Emma would skin Augustine alive.
> 
> And if it somehow hasn't been clear enough by now - Alfie refers to Emma in his mind as a Machoke. Machoke is for him a synonym for Emma, and for me is the reason I willl forever scream internally every time I see a female member of its evolution line. Emma's true Pokesona, however, is not a Machoke.
> 
> And there we got the traditional Mr. Pokemon and Professor Oak scene! This part can be really boring very easily, so I was looking for some ways to spice it up. Sure, Sycamore is one method, but can’t skip any opportunity to sneak some background in, can I?
> 
> Chikorita can tug on stuff guys. He has his leaf, he has his teeth. He can probably also grow vines or whatever. But I promise, he can tug on things. He's creative and also very adorable.
> 
> So egg - check. Pokedex - check. Mention of Red and Blue - check. Motivations - check. Suckerpunch - also check. And long speech from our protag - check indeed.
> 
> Oh damn children, you so clumsy. HoW could you forget your bags behind. Tut tut. Go and get them before the bugs eat them!


End file.
